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Curcumenol was firstly revealed as a pair of hemiacetal–ketone tautomers in solutions by using temperature variation 1H-NMR experiments, 2D NMR, and chemical methods. Quantum chemical calculation allowed the explanation of its spectroscopic behavior. An antioxidative SAR study on its derivatives verified the tautomeric bio-significance. Curcumenol also remarkably enhanced myogenic differentiation and mitochondrial function.

In this research, we developed a multianalyte fluorescence sensing system through a carbon dots (CDs)-based fluorescent probe that can specifically recognize Fe(III) by fluorescence quenching. The CDs prepared using black tea by a hydrothermal method show outstanding properties like low cytotoxicity, high photostability, excellent biocompatibility, and high sensitivity. It was found that the fluorescence of CDs can be quenched by micromolar concentrations of Fe(III) in both aqueous solutions as well as living cells. It is well known that glucose can be oxidized by glucose oxidase (GOx) to release H2O2, which, in turn, can oxidize Fe(II) to Fe(III). Based on this consideration, a multianalyte sensing system was established. Therefore the quantitative analysis of Fe(III), H2O2, and glucose with detection limits of 0.25 μM, 0.82 μM, and 1.71 μM, respectively, was achieved by the simple and cost-effective multianalyte CDs sensing system constructed. The sensing system showed high photostability and negligible cytotoxicity toward HeLa cells, which enables it to be applied in the visualization of Fe(III) or H2O2 in living cells. The system was further applied in the detection of Fe(III) or glucose in human serum, and satisfactory results were obtained.

A competitive chemiluminescence immunoassay which can be used for point-of-care testing and blood screening of metoprolol is reported. Four haptens for metoprolol were synthesized. An octanedioic acid-modified hapten was conjugated with bovine serum albumin to serve as the immunogen and the haptens were conjugated with ovalbumin for the coating antigen. Polyclonal antibodies for metoprolol were produced and the detection conditions were optimized. A competitive chemiluminescence immunoassay was established based on the produced antibody with potential for bedside therapeutic monitoring of metoprolol. The limit of detection in phosphate-buffered saline was 2 ng mL−1. Satisfactory recovery values from 89.3 to 107.6% in plasma were achieved. The results provided by the reported method were consistent with values obtained by high-performance liquid chromatography for pharmacokinetic studies. The immunoassay has potential to be developed as a test kit offering a simple and cost-effective approach for o...

Fourteen acetylbenzofuran derivatives, including three undescribed carbon skeletons with a newly formed hexane or benzene ring on the other side of the benzofuran ring, (±)-eupatonin A (1), (±)-eupatonin B (2), and eupatonin C (3), two new benzofurans (-)-12β-hydroxygynunone (4) and (+)-12-hydroxyl-13-noreuparin (5), as well as 9 known ones (6-14), were isolated from 95% ethanol extract of the roots of Eupatorium chinense. Their structures were determined by spectroscopic methods and quantum chemical DFT and TDDFT calculations of the NMR chemical shifts and ECD spectra, which helped in the determination of the relative configurations of 1 and 2 and the absolute configurations of 4 and 5, respectively. 1 and 2 were further identified to be racemic mixtures by chiral HPLC analysis. All compounds were evaluated for insulin-stimulated glucose uptake in differentiated C2C12 myotubes. Compounds 1, 3, 4, 5, 11, 12, and 13 markedly enhanced insulin-mediated glucose uptake. (±)-Eupatonin A (1) activated the IRS-1/Akt/GSK-3β signaling pathway and enhanced insulin stimulated GLUT4 membrane translocation in C2C12 myotubes. On LPS stimulated RAW264.7 macrophages, several compounds exhibited significant inhibitory effect on NO production with IC50 values ranging from 4.94 to 9.70 μΜ. (±)-Eupatonin A (1) again dose-dependently suppressed LPS-induced NO production and decreased the expression of inducible NO synthase (iNOS), through inhibiting NF-κB activity.

Additional file 1: Figure S1. The phenotype of wild type and z15 mutant. Figure S2. Transmission electron micrographs of chloroplasts at tiller stage. Figure S3. Agronomic traits of the wild type (‘Jinhui 10’) and z15 mutant at mature stage. Figure S4. Protein sequence alignment of Z15. Figure S5. Protein kinases domain profile. Figure S6. Transcriptome analysis and expression of genes involved in cold stress response. Figure S7. Sequencing method.

In this study, a specific antibody against sirolimus was produced by its well synthesized immunogen and a competitive chemiluminescence immunoassay (CLIA) was established. The sirolimus molecule was modified with succinic anhydride (hapten 1) and carboxymethoxylamine (hapten 2). Hapten 1 was conjugated with bovine serum albumin to serve as the immunogen whilst hapten 2 was conjugated with ovalbumin for the coating antigen. A polyclonal antibody was prepared by immunizing rabbits with the purified immunogen. A CLIA method was established using the antibody for the analysis of sirolimus in phosphate-buffered saline and plasma. The limits of detection of the method in the two samples could reach 0.20 and 0.25 ng mL−1, respectively. Furthermore, this immunoassay was successfully applied to the pharmacokinetic study of sirolimus and the calculation of its pharmacokinetic parameters. The results suggest that this immunoassay has significant potential to be developed as a kit which can provide a sensitive, specific and inexpensive approach to therapeutic drug monitoring of sirolimus.

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) serves as platform for local producers, especially for small size farms, to sell local fresh products directly to local residents. Joining CSA will benefit the local economy as well as the local agriculture. Although CSA is widely accepted across the United States, the amount of CSA membership is still very low. Some people argue that the CSA membership is prevented by lack of choices in variety of products, or inconvenience of picking-up. In this study, we apply quantitative methods to identifying barriers that prohibit CSA participation or factors affecting unsubscribe of the CSA membership. We also compare characteristics and food perception of different consumers group (non-CSA members, previous CSA members and current CSA members). Based on the 780 responses collected from a consumer survey at the national level, our results show that only 6% of the total sample is current CSA members. The top two reasons for unsubscribing of the CSA membership are that they prefer farmer’s market and not cooking at home. On the other hand, the top two important factors for participation in CSA are supporting local and family farms.

Thirty four terpenoids, including two new cadinane-type sesquiterpenoids containing conjugated aromatic-ketone moieties, curcujinone A (1) and curcujinone B (2), were isolated from 95% ethanol extract of the root tubers of Curcuma wenyujin. Their structures were determined by spectroscopic methods, especially 2D NMR and HRMS techniques. The relative and absolute configurations of 1 and 2 were identified by quantum chemical DFT and TDDFT calculations of the 13C NMR chemical shifts, ECD spectra, and specific optical rotations. All compounds and extracts were evaluated for their anti-diabetic activities with a glucose consumption model on HepG2 Cells. The petroleum fraction CWP (10μg/mL) and compounds curcumenol (4), 7α,11α-epoxy-5β-hydroxy-9-guaiaen-8-one (5), curdione (17), (1S, 4S, 5S 10S)-germacrone (18), zederone (20), a mixture of curcumanolide A (25) and curcumanolide B (26), gajutsulactone B (27), and wenyujinin C (30) showed promising activities with over 45% increasing of glucose consumption at 10μM.